“To be sure, there are valid points to be made about the lack of transparency and competency levels of certain county elections commissioners. For Republicans, just getting an estimate on how many ballots remain has been like pulling teeth. But there is no evidence of election fraud. Florida’s slowness in counting votes is hardly unique. A week after Election Day, key races in Arizona, California, Georgia, Maine, New York, Texas and Utah were yet to be called."

USA Today

“It is no surprise that Democrats gain votes later in the counting process in part because big cities tend to contain lots of Democratic votes, and given their population, cities take much longer to count. This is why in Arizona Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kyrsten Sinema has overtaken Republican candidate Martha McSally as votes continue to be counted in Maricopa County and elsewhere...

“It is possible here for two things to be true at the same time: There’s no evidence of fraud in the counting of votes in Florida, and the incompetence of Broward County Supervisor of Elections Brenda Snipes is deeply troubling.”

"The other types of fraud weren’t common either: In total, the project uncovered 2,068 alleged election fraud cases from 2000 through part of 2012, covering a time span when more than 620 million votes were cast in national general elections alone. That represents about 0.000003 alleged cases of fraud for every vote cast.”

Others worry that “the Constitution says that the ultimate arbiter of who gets a Senate seat is the Senate itself — not election officials or the courts... If that were to happen... it is not unthinkable that Republicans would consider using their majority power in the Senate to refuse to seat Mr. Nelson and to give the seat to Mr. Scott instead."

New York Times

From the Right

The right argues that the irregularities in Broward county raise legitimate concerns about the integrity of the results, especially given the history of Brenda Snipes, its commissioner.

"Scott has been demanding [that officials comply with Florida law on ballot counting and transparency]... unlike the other 65 counties in the state, [Broward and Palm Beach counties] failed to meet state-mandated deadlines for counting ballots and reporting.”

“Last May, a judge ruled that Snipes violated federal and state election laws when she destroyed ballots... In August, a judge ordered Snipes to stop opening mail-in ballots in secret. Snipes has engaged in other behavior that has raised concerns about her competence and nonpartisanship, including again in 2016 when she ‘accidentally’ posted election results 30 minutes before polls closed."

“The latest ballot debacle may be a result of carelessness or incompetence, rather than fraud. But election officials unable to do their job just invite abuse. A botched vote undermines confidence in American democracy... Election controversies hurt all Americans. Fixing the system should be a bipartisan priority."